Possible
by TanaBear
Summary: My continuation of chapter 363. Naruto! Kakashi sensei! Sai! Anyone! I need backup! When nothing came over her headset she tried again. Naruto! Some one! Can you hear me? *Hiatus
1. Chapter 1

Note:

This starts off right from chapter 363, so if you haven't read that you probably wont know what's going on.

This is just my take on what might happen in the next chapters. I'm not sure if I'll make this into a full-fledged story, but we'll just have to see.

I do NOT own Naruto, or the characters. The plot is the only thing, and even then it's still just a spin-off of Kishi-san's.

* * *

Naruto ran alongside the two dogs Kakashi had summoned for him. Just moments ago there was some kind of an explosion and the shockwave was a killer. Thankfully, the trees where he had headed into had taken the brunt of it and diluted the force of it. The distance was a good thing too, just as much as it was a bad thing. It also lessened the force of the shockwave, but it was taking them a lot longer than he would have liked to get there.

"Naruto-kun... you need to slow down a bit..." The blonde grunted, but slowed none the less.

Hinata was a little ways behind him now. "**Gomen.**" He replied. He didn't mean to get so far ahead. He had to remember that he wasn't alone.

"Can you see what's going on up ahead yet, Hinata-chan." The shy female closed her eyes and shook her head. "Not yet, Naruto-kun." He nodded in response and leapt over another broken tree, Hinata, Yamato and Bull doing the same.

It would be about two more minutes until they arrived at their destination.

---

"It looks like we're behind Akamaru. We better hurry up! Can't let Naruto have the upper hand!" "Bark!" With that, Kiba and Akamaru ran as fast as they could to catch up.

---

"It seems there's been an explosion." Came the statement from Sai's mouth. "It seems the Uchiha kid is that way, too." The bandaged dog spoke. "Then we should get going too." The other said. He put his nose up in the air and perked his ears up. "It seems that the others are moving that way aswell." Sai nodded and took off with his two animal companions.

---

"Sasuke's over in that direction," a head moving in the direction of the explosion. Shino didn't speak, only nodded in response. He began his way forward. The dogs looked at each other, a brow was raised on each, but followed.

---

"I suppose we better check it out. Who knows what Naruto will do if he gets there first," the ex-anbu sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I say we look around a bit more before we go in that direction. The others are headed that way as well. The shouldn't get into too much trouble," Pakkun said from the ninja's head. "Aa... But it's Naruto we're talking about." "True, true." The brown and black dog shook his head. As much as his "master" tried to hide it, he really did care about his students. More so than he deemed 'necessary'. "Then let us go, shall we?" And they were off, soon to meet up with the others.

---

Sakura's attention to the explosion wasn't out of the ordinary. Infact, the whole town seemed to be looking in that direction. She even saw someone dart off in that direction after the event. She didn't see who it was. She wasn't really paying attention. "We should go and check it out." She voiced her opinion. "Indeed." Said one of her smaller companions. The other just nodded.

The young woman took a step forward, the step before a sprint, when she was stopped. "I'd re-think that, if I were you." A man's voice came from behind her. She also felt a slight pressure on her shoulder. His hand was keeping her in place. When she moved to turn around she was scolded. "Stay as you are."

She stiffined just then as she took in the man's chakra. It was strong and menacing.

"You plan to use her?" Sakura heard a woman's voice this time. She could only guess, but from the way the woman replied, he seemed to have nodded. "But what if he's not as Itachi says? What if it fails?" "It wont."

The man made no move to stop her from turning around this time, but now the man was all alone. She wasn't sure if that made anything better. He was from the akatsuki, as his cloak so obviously demonstrated. None of the towns' people seemed to notice it's significance, but she knew it all too well. Eyes narrowed at the stranger. "Stay away from me." She spat at him. She noticed that the dogs had said nothing, and when she looked around for them, they were nowhere. "You're coming with me." "Did you not just hear me? I said stay away from me." Emerald eye's filled with even more hate. "I would appreciate it if you came quietly. Make my job easier." She scoffed and put her arms up in defense. She wasn't supposed to fight. Then again, she might have no choice, and now the dogs were gone so she had no way of contacting her team mates. Unless they were close by...

She decided to give it a shot. "Naruto! Kakashi-sensei! Sai! Anyone! I need back-up!" When nothing came over she tried again, taking a step back from the akatsuki member. "Naruto! Some one! Can you hear me?" She heard it crackle. Some one was coming into her range! Just as she heard Hinata's cracked-up voice come over her speaker, it broke.

"Enough. You're coming with me now." He took a step towards her, she took a step back, never letting her arms move from their attack/defense position. He sighed and closed his eyes in an annoyed matter. She took this as her chance to run towards the explosion area.

She should have known she wouldn't have made it 3 strides forward...

---

"Sakura? Sakura, are you there?" Naruto looked back at Hinata. Sakura was trying to get through to them?

"What's she saying?" The blond asked after she scrunched up her nose a little bit. "She's not responding." "I don't have a good feeling about this..." Naruto said. "Sakura can hold her own. She's probably just trying to make sure we're headed the same way." Yamato spoke up. "Then why can't we hear trying to get through now?" "Naruto, she has the two dogs with her. They probably told her that we're headed there already." "I don't think so." All eyes turned to Bull, their canine team mate. "W-what do you mean?" Lavender eyes widened slightly with concern. "I can't hear, smell or sense them. They're not with Sakura anymore." Naruto stopped dead. "What the hell happened then!?" Bull was taken aback when the blond got in his face. "I don't know," was all he said. Naruto looked like he was about to pull out his hair. "Naruto, calm down. Let's meet up with the others first and see what's going on. We don't know for sure what's happened." He let out a breath. "Then let's hurry. I don't like this."

The four set off again, but this time, at a faster pace.

---

Sasuke sat there on the ground infront of his team. Something, or someone, was coming. It was an odd feeling; Like the calm before a storm.

* * *

How was it? Any errors I didn't catch? I need to know! Please no flames... I haven't gotten one yet but... I hear they aren't very nice!

**Gomen** - Sorry


	2. Chapter 2

So, I received lovely reviews for the first chapter! I was so happy! I was literally jumping in my computer chair out of happiness...

So I made another chapter! I'm going to continue the story and all that jazz! Aren't you excited:D

Anyway... Moving right along...

Disclaimer - I do not own Naruto. None of it. Zero, zip, nadda!

* * *

"Come on, we better get going." The beaten Sasuke said and attempted to get up. He managed, but his legs were begging him to give up. He almost complied. Almost. "Hold on a sec, Sasuke. Shouldn't you rest a little? I mean, you just got out of a battle! Look how badly hurt you are!" He rolled his eyes. He's sure he's been in worse conditions than this. The calm he felt before was fading. Something was coming fast. He could feel it. The air growing more tense by the second. He didn't like it very much.

"And where do you suggest he do that, four-eyes? He's exposed out in the open like this." Karin huffed. Suigetsu made his point, and she abandoned her attempt to argue. It was a lost cause anyway.

"Some one's coming." Broken twigs and leaves, or what was left of them, crumpled under the weight of whoever was coming. Sasuke recognized the figure. It was his replacement for team seven; Sai.

"Who are you?!" Karin demanded at once. "Oh, it's Sasuke-kun." Karin fumed as she was being ignored. "Do you know him?" "Not really." He didn't elaborate. "Hey, you there. Get lost!" Sasuke heard Suigetsu tell Karin to "shut up". He didn't take his eyes of Sai though.

"Where's the rest of the band of morons?" He found it rather odd that he had come alone. "Hm... If it's team 7 you're wondering about, they're on their way. As are the others." The avenger scoffed. He had to leave before this got ugly. "Well, you can tell them to give up. I'm not going back." Sai shifted his weight onto one leg. The two dogs at his side dissapeared, Sasuke noticed, just as Kiba, Kakashi and Shino appeared.

"Long time no see, eh Sasuke?" Obsidian eyes made their way to his former sensei. His tone made it seem like it was a light-hearted question; Harmless. However, his sharingan was clearly visible, obviously stating that he was dead serious.

Karin was about to open her mouth again when she was interrupted by a loud "Teme...!!". He didn't have to look to know who it was. Who could mistake that loud voice as anyone other than Naruto? He also saw the Hyuuga girl with him, as well as the other man from last time, when he first encountered the team after three years. But something was off... Someone was missing...

"Where's the Hag?" He noted that Naruto paled a little bit, as well as his eyes darken. "I _told_ you something wasn't right!" He accused this 'Yamato' guy. The dog he had known as Pakkun spoke next. "The two dogs aren't with her anymore. They've been killed." His former sensei closed his eyes and sighed.

"Oh my, what a party this has turned out to be!" Karin's shrill voice sounded again. She was really starting to give him a headache...

"Look, I don't know who you guys are, and I don't give a damn, but get lost before-" "Karin... Shut up." Sasuke had finally had enough. She was just making the situation worse with her yelling. She obeyed immediately.

His eyes stared at Naruto. He looked torn between something.

"Pakuun?" "There's no trace of her. I can't sense or hear her at all." The blond looked like he was about to hit the nearest thing.

"Sakura-chan! Can you hear me? Sakura-chan!!" Ah... That was it... The pick haired nuisance wasn't there. He was surprised to find himself curious as to why. Wasn't she his biggest supporter in bringing him back? He supposed not after all.

"Sakura-chan!" He called to her again, but still there was no response from his headset. Hers must have been broken... Or worse... "Damn it!"

Blue eyes locked with black. "You...- If _you _never left we wouldn't be in this mess!" His eyes became red, obviously angry.

"My oh my... Look at the group that's gathered here..." All eyes turned to the new voice that appeared. A woman, but who?

---

Sakura awoke to find herself being carried somewhere. She couldn't see anything, and at first didn't know why. Her first thought was that the enemy had blinded her. She'd be totally exposed. She wouldn't be able to fight back. But, to her slight relief, after the panic wore off some, she could tell that bandages -or something of the sort- handicapped her vision. She was also bound up with strong chakra enhanced rope around her ankles and wrists. She wasn't going anywhere for a while.

"You've awakened?" She made no move to answer. Silence was her only weapon at the moment. "We're almost there." Now she had to wonder... Where was _there_, exactly?

Now that she was awake, she could feel the man's shoulder push into her stomach with every step he took. It was so easy to forget that they still walked like normal people. It was just really hard to tell when their cloaks conceal more than 80 percent of their body...

"Is the Kyuubi vessel there?" At fist she couldn't tell if he was talking to her or not, but the question made no sense if he was. She didn't know where _she_ was, let alone know where Naruto was...

Wait- Naruto? They wanted Naruto? And they were going to- The young kunoichi's heart dropped. If he was planning on doing what she thought he was...

She pleaded to whatever gods were listening that they weren't planning on using her to get him to come quietly...

---

A woman walked into the clearing and the atmosphere became extreamly tense. The akatsuki cloak she wore was a dead giveaway to everyone there. This was _bad_.

"Kyuubi vessel..." Naruto froze as he was addressed. The other's didn't know yet... "Naruto-kun... Do you know what she's talking about?" Hinata had whispered to him. "Ah... Well..."

"We don't want trouble. We've come to make a deal." The silver haired jounin walked over by Naruto. "We?" he asked. "Yes. My partner and I have come to make a deal with the jinchuuriki."

As if on cue another akatsuki member walked into the clearing, eventually stopping beside the female. His heart stopped, though, when he laid his eyes on when he was holding.

He could only see the back of her, but the skirt, boots, shorts- They were a dead giveaway. He had _Sakura_.

"Now, for our deal." As the woman said this the man dropped Sakura to the ground, none to gracefully. She landed with a thud and she tried to get up and run or... do something! She'd be damned if she was left to be the burden _again._

She found out the hard way that they intended for her to stay put when a foot met with her ribs. It wasn't hard enough to make any bones break, but there would be one hell of a nasty bruise. She also got the wind knocked out of her, so she -unwillingly- stayed put, trying to put some air back into her lungs.

"Let her go! This has nothing to do with her!" She heard Naruto yell, but he was still a fair distance away. She noticed, in all of her gasping, that they were in an open area. His voice would have been louder from the echoes if there had been trees or buildings. It wasn't hard to put two and two together. It was obviously the explosion site.

"I'm afraid the only way we can do that is if you come with us. Or we'll beat her 'till you comply. Or kill her if you don't." She could imagine the whole scene in her head, and it wasn't nice...

"I said... let her go." A vicious growl made it's way from the blonde's throat. "Naruto-kun..." Hinata was a little more than frightened. Naruto's eyes were blood red and his canine teeth seemed to have grown longer than any normal humans'...

"It seems we're finally getting through. Decide, Kyuubi." Sakura, at this time was panicking. Naruto was going to give in... she knew it. It was in his nature. He cared too much. And right now... that single shinobi rule finally made sense. _Shinobi should have no emotions._ They were a hindrance in situations like these. She understood a little more why Sasuke left... Not that it was anywhere near justifying what he did.

A single tear ran down her face, it seemed to miss being absorbed by the bandages around her eyes.

"Naruto!! Don't do it! Don't! Please! Don't-" She was kicked again in the ribs. The heard a soft crack this time. The bones weren't broken... They just fractured, and it hurt. "Sakura-ch-"

"Naruto, you moron! Get lost!" She tried her best to make it sound as rude as she could. The blow to her side was making it rather hard though...

She attempted to get up again, but couldn't. The ropes made it impossible, so she would have to break them.

---

"Sasuke, we really should get going. All the drama is making Juugo jumpy." Suigetsu claimed. Juugo, however, looked completely fine and shot a questioning glance towards the swordsman. "We agree, for once..." Karin mumbled the last part. "Sasuke, we can't stay. Your wounds will get infected and-"

Sasuke wasn't paying attention to what the members of Hebi were talking about. His eyes were glued to the scene before him. And what was interesting was that Sakura didn't even know he was there yet, or she was doing a very good job at hiding it -which he doubted- .

He stayed focused on the display in front of him as he put something into his mouth.

Suigetsu and Karin were still trying to get his attention.

---

Naruto didn't know what to do. First, there was his promise to keep. He told Sakura he'd do it no matter what; The promise of a lifetime, he told her. So, if he went with the akatsuki all of his training, all his promises, it would be for nothing. But on the other hand, if he didn't go Sakura would die. There would be no point to the promise he made if they had killed her. He still needed to bring Sasuke back... But He couldn't let Sakura be killed...

What to do, what to do...

* * *

How was this chapter? Did it match up with the first one okay? Any spelling mistakes I didn't catch _this _time?

I hoped you liked it anyhow. :)


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three! Aren't you excited? I am!

Actually.. I lied. I'm not really :P

BUT! I got very nice reviews again and I hope you find this chapter just as good! I'm really trying here T.T

Disclaimer - I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Blue and obsidian clashed again. The blue ones pleading, the other pair thinking. Naruto needed his help if he wanted to live _and_ get Sakura back. It wouldn't have worked with anyone else, this silent plea, because for one, Sasuke was directly in his line of sight. It wouldn't look too suspicious as it would have been if he turned his head. And two, He and Sasuke could read each other like that. He still believed they still shared some kind of connection even if they haven't seen each other in nearly three years.

So, he silently pleaded with the Uchiha. If this didn't work he would have to give himself over to the two villains across the open space.

"Well, Kyuubi? What will you do?" The female spoke again. Naruto cautiously wondered if she was getting annoyed, because if she was she showed no signs of it.

Naruto saw Sasuke straighten up a little more and felt his chakra spike a little. '_He must have taken a soldier pill._'

Red eyes turned back to the girl on the ground. She was squirming. He assumed it was because she was trying to get a foothold in the ground so that she could stand.

"Stay put. Stop moving so much." The woman's foot slammed down on Sakura's back, succeeding in keeping her still. He flinched and took a step towards the two akatsuki members. If Sasuke didn't do anything in the next few seconds... He'd have to do give in.

His eyes wandered back and forth between Sakura and Sasuke, and, though he might have imagined it, he thought he saw a smirk on the pink-haired kunoichi's face.

---

Sasuke was now contemplating. Should he help Naruto out, and get Sakura away from them? It had it's advantages. Naruto wouldn't have to go to the akatsuki, which would definitely be a gain in strength for them and Itachi. But what about the disadvantages? He would use up most of his chakra reserves and possibly die. But, then again, if Itachi gained power the next time they fought he would most probably die.

Looks like an easy decision, right? Not really. If he saved Sakura they would probably think he did it because he still cared for his former team. He would not -could not- have them thinking _that_. But for some reason, he couldn't let them die. Not because he cared, because he most certainly didn't, but because they were the things that had kept him from going insane. It was purely for his own benefit. Not for them. For _him_, and he'd be damned if they had thought it was the opposite.

But on no accounts could he let Itachi gain any more power than he already had. He accepted that fact that Itachi was a natural shinobi, a genius, a prodigy. And he had mangekyou sharingan. So, by no means must he have any more power, or Sasuke would have even more catching up to do.

He had to decide fast on what he was going to do. Naruto was getting restless, and Sakura looked to be in a lot of pain. Not that he _cared_ -he flinched at the fact that the word was still in his vocabulary-, he was merely stating the obvious.

So, on the very last possible second, he had made his choice-

---

Finally! She had done it! She had cut through the ropes! Well, the ones around her wrists anyway. She had no way of breaking the ones around her legs. Yet. Yet was always a good word...

"What are you doing?" She froze. They had found out. "Paine... She cut through the ropes?" She assumed he nodded. "Talented little thing, isn't she?" Pink brows narrowed, "Little?" She hissed. Through the burning pain surfacing from her fractured bones, she used her arms to pick herself up, spin the other way, and leap away from her two captives. She could sense that one of them reach out to grab her before she got too far away, but someone from behind grabbed her instead. She stiffened yet again. If she had known there'd been a third person... This was not her day. Not at all... Though it wasn't completely horrible. She thought she hit her new captive right in the gut! At least she would manage to go down fighting.

---

Sasuke winced at the pain the kunoichi just inflicted on him. He didn't voice it out loud, but he could imagine Naruto snikering behind him even though he didn't verbally show any signs of pain.

Then he realized, she hadn't taken off the bandages around her eyes. She didn't know who he was.

"Sakura-chan!" He heard Naruto's voice come from beside him. Sakura's head turned in that direction and he felt her relax somewhat. She had noticed that his voice held worry, but relief. She was safe. For now. And then she froze once again. She had time to analyze the person's chakra now, since she wasn't focused on getting away. It felt familiar, but cold. It was the same, but it had changed so much. Not like she had once known.

She had felt the person set her feet on the ground and Naruto cut the ropes with his chakra-enhanced kunai. She was able to stand on her own now, and she was thankful, but she didn't bother to take the bandages off. She knew it would hurt to see him again. To see Sasuke.

"I'm done." He heard him speak before she heard a thud next to her. Sasuke was on the ground, chakra dwindling. "Teme!" Naruto yelled. She also heard voices coming from a little ways away.

He was hurt, and possibly dying. Was it worth helping him now? It would crush Naruto to hear her say that, but she had doubts. Ever since he left, she had been doubting. Doubting that he would be the Sasuke they knew when they finally, if ever, caught him. She wondered if he was still _sane_, after being with Orochimaru for two and a half years and all. One would have to be _insane_ not to speculate such things. He was a very sick and twisted man, there was no questioning that.

She finally decided to take off her bindings which covered her eyes. She figured that, even if it hurt, she was still strong enough now to face him. She was no longer 12. She was 15 and mature.

"Sakura-chan, do you think you could-?" She was already on it.

As soon as she laid her eyes on him it only took her a second to take it all in. He was hurt. Bad.

There were burns, slashes, bruises... She wouldn't be surprised to find broken bones and internal bleeding.

"What do you think you're doing!?" She was hit by the woman standing across the barren area a few moments ago. Emerald glared hard at the woman with glasses. "I'm trying to help, but I can see it's not wanted. I guess when he dies it wont be my problem." She saw Naruto look at her like she was insane, and Sasuke's eye's turned to look at her weird too. She hadn't known he was still awake. She should have noticed, but it wasn't a big deal.

"Hmph!" The red-haired kunoichi turned from her. "We can look after Sasuke ourselves. There's bound to be a hospital in town." The two other Hebi members were silent.

---

"They seem to have forgotten us." Paine stated. "Indeed. Most of them anyway." True enough. Only Sakura and Naruto seemed not to pay attention.

"Are we still going to use the girl?" The woman akatsuki member asked the other. "Yes. She seems to be a weak point, not only for Naruto, but for the Uchiha kid as well."

She nodded and took a step towards the younger shinobi.

---

"None as good as me." She replied cooly. Tsunade had helped her a lot with self-control and hiding emotions. Though, she forgot about it around her friends. She could afford to do it then.

"My my, aren't we confident." She heard swordsman say. "Only because it's true." Her hand made it's way up to her cheek where Karin had punched to demonstrate. The bruise was gone in seconds.

"Just because you can heal a small bruise doesn't mean-" Karin was promptly ignored.

"Naruto," she started, "You might want to remember the situation at hand. You know, about the akatsuki." Blue eyes turned red as he suddenly realized one of them was running at them. The other was fighting everyone else.

"Gotcha'." He ran to meet his opponent.

"Sasuke, this might feel a little weird at first..." She closed her eyes before waiting for a response. She knew there wouldn't be one. Both hands laid on his chest, one over top of the other, and a green glow emitted from her small hands.

Karin could only stare.

---

"Just as Itachi said," Naruto could only spit as his name was mentioned, "You rush into everything..." The blond didn't care what she, or Itachi, said. It was all a bunch of bullshit anyway. He couldn't care less what _they_ thought of him.

The woman caught his punch, "You have no idea what my strength or weaknesses are," He dodged a kick sent his way, "And I know all about you, so I have the advantage." "Do you?" Naruto came at her from behind. She realized to late that she was holding a kage bunshin. Or, so he thought.

She ducked her head just in time so that Naruto kick would destroy his own bunshin. It dissapeared in a cloud of smoke and while Naruto was still in the air, grabbed on to his ankle and threw him to the ground.

"You're still a child..." he heard her sigh in dissapointment. "I at least thought you'd be strong enough to give me a challenge. You have the strongest of the **bijuu** sealed inside you, after all."

A vicious growl came from his throat. "I'll kill you and your akatsuki partner for hurting Sakura-chan!" Two tails appeared out of the red swirling chakra that covered his entire being. "Now it's getting interesting."

This time she came at _him_, kunai at the ready.

---

"You've been messed up real bad, Sasuke-kun." Her features scrunched up a little in frustration. It would take her a while to fix him up. She knew she couldn't heal him entirely anyway. She needed her own good supply of chakra in case she engaged in battle, which would more than likely be the case. She had a feeling his new "team members" wouldn't let him go so easily. She smirked. They were alike in that sense. Both parties wanted Sasuke to remain with them.

"No shit, Pinky." Her eyebrow twitched. '_Concentrate on your job, Sakura._' She repeated in her head. "Anyway, most of your wounds I can patch up, but these things in your bloodstream I can't remove here... But they don't seem fatal, so it shouldn't be a problem, but what _does_ concern me is your chakra loss..." Pink eyebrows knitted together.

"I never asked for help." She looked at him and smiled sadly. "You'll never have to." And with that, she began to heal some of his more critical injuries.

It was saddening that he still didn't get it. That, even if _he_ didn't care, _they_ always would.

"Why don't you just stop before you annoy him further? He just said he didn't need any help." The green glow intensified for a moment, and Sasuke no longer felt pain in his abdomen, where he figured he was bleeding internally, and then it dissapeared.

Sasuke was a little dissapointed. The green light felt nice. Someone could easily get addicted to that. But he'd never say that a loud...

'_Sakura, you're annoying._'

'_Even after all this time... You're still annoying._'

Ah, yes... The good ol' days. She laughed softly, but in a sad manner. Annoying... That's what she had been. Probably always will be. But she'd be strong at the same time. She hadn't trained all these years for nothing. She wouldn't let it go to waste.

She took some water out of her small carrying bag she had on her back and poured it into her hands. With it, she formed a small bubble around her hand.

"Sasuke-kun, this is going to hurt a little bit." She then proceeded to put the bubble inside of him. At first he felt a cold sensation, probably due to the water, but then he felt pain. It wasn't unbearable pain, but damn... It hurt!

Sakura felt him tense, but he fared a lot better than a lot of her patients when this technique was used.

He relaxed only when the bubble was drawn back out. The members of Hebi just stared. Inside of the water bubble was blood. Not just a couple of drops, but at least a cup and a half full.

Black eyes became confused.

"This was all the blood from his internal bleeding. I've removed it for fear of complications." She let it go on the grass beside her, far enough away so that it wouldn't reach her if it flowed a little bit.

She wiped a bead of sweat off her brow and relaxed. "You're not in critical condition anymore, but any strenuous movements might cause the bleeding to happen again." She laughed a little bit and closed her eyes.

"Great, now we can get out of here." Karin announced. Sakura's eyes snapped open once again.

"Sorry, but I can't allow that."

---

"You'd think that they would have gotten him by now... Or at the very least, the girl." Someone bearing a mask spoke as he watched out of chakra-sensing range. "If they don't capture her, I will. She has talent as a medic and she's still very young. She'll be of use... To Itachi and myself."

* * *

I hope you liked it! I'm sorry about all the cliffhangers, I hate them too!

Le Sigh. So, as it turns out, the chapter of Naruto this week wasn't like my idea. But the Tobi thing? Crazy! Though I think I've always had some kind of idea that he was Obito... But it hasn't been proven that he is and it's driving me mad! Mad I say!

I'd laugh if it turns out to be some other long lost Uchiha survivor. And I wonder if Itachi is aware? -Shrugs-

Anyway, No idea when the next chapter will be up. My whole theory had to change along with the actual story line :P

I want to keep it as realistic as possible!

Ja ne!

**Bijuu** - The Tailed Beasts


	4. Chapter 4

Whew... This was a pain in the arse to write... I had a small case of writer's block and lame-ness. T.T So, in short, I really don't like this chapter. But perhaps you will. Who knows?  
I also find it kind of slow... They've been in the same place forever! Jeeze!  
Anyway, I promise next chapter they'll be out of this boring place! Horay!

Disclaimer - Me no own Naruto!

* * *

"Kakashi-san! We haven't even scratched him yet!" Kiba yelled at the ex-anbu as he caught his breath. Sharingan swirled as he tried to figure out what this guy's weakness was. He hasn't used any jutsu yet and his team was running out of steam.

His head turned to Naruto. He seemed to be holding his own, but even from here he could tell that the woman had the upper hand.

His head turned to the only other female. "Hinata, you should go and help out Naruto." She didn't know how to respond. "Yes, but what about-?" "Don't worry. We have enough over here, but Naruto looks like he might need a little help." She nodded and turned to run in her love's direction.

"Just one thing." She stopped and turned to look at him. "If two more tails emerge, get away from him." She was about to ask why, but he already returned to fighting.

Two more tails, huh?

---

"And why would that be, little girl?" Sakura's eyes cast a steely look in Suigetsu's direction. "I've done my duty as a medic, I've healed him, but if you try and leave with Sasuke I wont hesitate to fufill my duty as a shinobi, too." Karin broke out in laughter. "Oh please! So you can heal a few little cuts and scrapes. What does that prove? You're no more a shinobi than you are pretty."

Next thing she knew, she was down, kunai to her throat. "I dare you to say that again." She hissed at Karin.

"Oh, she's good." She heard the swordsman say. Through all of this, Sasuke said nothing. 'Surprise, surprise...' Inner Sakura rolled her eyes and gave a snort.

"Get off of me!" The red-haired woman screamed. "Now why would I do that? I'm not stupid." "Could have fooled me." Suigetsu came from behind and kicked her off of Karin. Well, he tried to. She had ducked just in time and he flew right over top of the girls. "What the-?" Sakura sighed. They underestimated her already, just because she was a medic. "You're not supposed to annouce your attack, moron." She told him straight out.

Sasuke sat up and watched. She's improved, he'd give her that, but just how much were they talking? Medics were not usually trained to fight. Their job was simply to heal the injured on a mission. Nothing more. So, why was she so confident? And with only herself fighting to boot. She was outnumbered, four to one.

He went to stand up, to maybe show off the fact that there were way to many of them, but found himself unable to. His legs wouldn't move no matter how hard he tried to move them.

He looked over to his former team mate. Just what had she done? He saw that she now had a blue light dancing around her hand. A major change from the soft, green glow that was used on him. It was sharper looking and just the feeling he got was enough to tell him that it wasn't used to heal.

"Sorry, but you were going to flee otherwise, Sasuke-kun. I had to cut the tendons in your legs." With that said she tapped Karin's neck. She went out like a light.

Then she thought about it. That was way too easy. Something was up, or had this girl really underestimated her that much? Surely Sasuke wouldn't bring along someone as weak as her?

What ever the reason, she was down and only two of the Hebi members remained.

"So, who's next?"

---

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata quickly ran over to where Naruto had been thrown. This akatsuki woman was strong. Even with two tails he couldn't even scratch her! "A-are you okay?" She loved him, there was no doubt, but with the red eyes and the red chakra that had two tails formed from it was a little... intimidating. "Hinata-chan?" His eyes went back to blue for a moment when he realized it was her. It only lasted for a moment, Hinata barely had time to register it. "What are you-?" "Kakashi-san said to help you out because... Um... There's only one of you fighting her and..." She didn't finish, but he understood. Kakashi was concerned. Right now he couldn't blame him. He was worried about himself too, but now he had Hinata to look out for...

'Or,' he thought, 'she might be able to help me!'

"Watch out!" Hinata had pushed him out of the way when the woman sent a shap flowerpetal their way. Luckily for them, Hinata had byakugan activated and saw the attack in advance. Naruto, for the most part looked a little disheveled and confused, but okay. She was glad. He nodded his thanks to her once he had figured out what just happened.

The akatsuki woman sighed. "So, Kyuubi has a partner now. Lucky me..." and then she dissapeared. Hinata had her enhanced vision looking everywhere for her, but she wouldn't be found so easily.

---

"I'll give them two more minutes. I might have to intervene if they take any longer." The masked figure stepped into chakra-sensing range, and then dissapeared. His 'team mates' would know he wasn't going to wait.

---

"Paine!" The woman had yelled at the man to get his attention. He seemed to notice the presence too. They now knew that they would only have so much time to wrap things up. And that's just what she intended to do with these to. She needed to get the kyuubi jinchiruki now while he was burdened with the arrival of the new girl. But, she has byakugan. That certainly was not in her favor but she had her ways...

---

"I'll fight you this time." Green eyes met with the, until now, silent Juugo. She could tell he wasn't the fighting type by the looks Sasuke and Suigetsu were giving him. "I can't allow Sasuke to be taken away." 'Shocker,' her inner self said with very fake surprise.

Now, Sakura was a smart girl. She had followed Kakashi's saying: 'Remember to look underneath the underneath'. She had always expected the unexpected, but this was something she would have never imagined. The silent Juugo of team Hebi... Transforming. Black marks covered his body so much so that his skin could no longer be seen. 'The curse mark...?'

She was stronger now. Way stronger than she had ever imagined herself to be. However, there were some things that just wouldn't go away. She knew it was crazy, insane even, but she had never gotten over her fear of the curse mark. Sasuke would see to that. That image of Sasuke burned in her mind for the rest of eternity. Black skin, murderous look, and the power. Dark, evil, power.

This curse mark had been the cause of all things bad. Sasuke left seeking power because of it. It was a controlling, mind altering device that Orochimaru concocted to get at Sasuke. 'Sasuke-kun... left because of this thing... So why does he have it?' Juggo came at her quickly. Almost too quickly, but she had managed to avoid his attack, even if it wasn't completely. She had managed to jump away from him just in time with only a small tear in her shirt.

She noticed his rantings of 'kill. I need to kill.' And wondered, would Sasuke become like this if he used the curse enough? She shuttered at the thought, which proved to be a mistake, because Juugo got her. A slash to her arm. Then she was on the ground in a second, Juugo still trying to jab at her with his weapon, which she now recognized to be a kunai.

'No, no no no,no!' Her mind raced as she figured a way to beat this guy. Assuming that the other didn't jump in and start helping him.

She kicked him off of her with enough force to break a thick tree limb, and he was thrown back a ways.

"Kill..." She felt pity for him. He wasn't himself anymore.

She whispered low enough so no one could hear her, "Sasuke-kun..." This Juugo began to make her worry more and more. Sasuke could very possibly end up just like this, and she didn't like it. It wasn't Sasuke, heck... it wasn't this Juugo either. She could tell by his nature -even though she only met him for like a second- that this wasn't right. He didn't want this.

"Sakura! Watch out-!"

She turned to see the man that had captured her running her way.

Kakashi was down, as was the rest of them. Sai was still trying to make an effort, though. She could see from the corner of her eye that he was hastily painting something on one of his scrolls. Hopefully, it would be something big and fast, because there was no way she would going to get away from this guy and Juugo.

"Sasuke, I think you should calm Juugo down now so that we can leave. The dramatics aren't doing it for me."

"**Chotto Matte**-!" Her cry was cut short. She was on the ground once again. It seemed to be the "in" thing lately...

"It seems that Naruto wont be joining us today, so you'll be coming alone with us once again." 'Not if I can help it!'

Her head hung low, as if she had given in. Little did he know it was the exact opposite. She had canceled out the chakra in her arms, so they went slack. Then, she pushed all of the missing chakra back in so that her arms pulsed. Her chakra came out on a wave so intense that the akatsuki was forced to let her go. Neji had told her to use it only if it was absolutely necessary, because for one, it hurt like hell, and two, it damaged her chakra system wherever it was used. In this case, her arms.

"What did you just do?" She smirked. She was actually surprised that she had managed to pull it off. She had never tried it before now. "I'm not going to tell you." Her fist went down, about to smash the earth when she blacked out.

'Nice time to go to sleep. Couldn't have done it better myself.' She told herself to shut it before everything went blank.

---

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled as he and Hinata ran over along-side Sai's summoned tiger.

He had never actually beat the woman 'till she gave in, she did it on her own. It happened out of the blue. It was then he discovered that she was running in Sakura and Sasuke's direction. She had made an unfamiliar hand sign and Sakura fell to the ground in mid-attack.

Paine quickly dealt with the black tiger and didn't give Naruto or Hinata a glance. He had Sakura over his shoulder already. "Hold on a sec! Don't take her! She has nothing to do with this!" The young Kyuubi vessel yelled.

"Contrary to popular belief, she does, though it took me longer than I would have liked to realize that." The man who held her captive turned to the woman who spoke. "Now we'll be leaving," she spoke once again, "and you better be watching your back."

Kyuubi-Naruto made to slash at them but they dissapeared before he got the chance. "Sakura-chan..." He fell to his knees and the red chakra that surrounded him dissapeared. "What the hell is that supposed to mean!?" He yelled to them, though they were no longer in the area.

Kakashi had met up with them at this point. The others were still over where they were originally fighting, either to tired and/or hurt to move, or they were trying to figure out where they went wrong in the battle.

Naruto and Kakashi noticed Sasuke trying to stand up, using Suigetsu as support. Juugo was, what looked like to Kakashi, just standing there.

The silver-haired shinobi sighed. "I wouldn't leave if I were you, Sasuke." the Uchiha scoffed. "Why not?" He asked, not really caring. "Even if you wait months, years even, your legs wont heal. Sakura's ability to stop cell regeneration isn't something to be taken lightly. There probably isn't another medic in the world who could heal your legs, except of course our Hokage."

Naruto was catching on. He was trying to bribe Sasuke into coming back to Konoha to be cured.

"I'm not going back." He snapped. "Then good luck trying to fight Itachi when your legs don't work. You wont last longer than a minute." "Shut up!" Kakashi smiled slightly. It was working.

"You know I'm speaking the truth, Sasuke. You're strong and all, but without your ability to even stand up on your own-" He didn't need to finish. He could see that Sasuke was thinking it over.

Killing Itachi was on the top of his list of 'things to do'. Actually, it was the only thing, and was going back to his old village worse than never being able to kill Itachi? No. Itachi was his main goal; The only thing that mattered.

Of course... There was the possibility that Kakashi was lying about Sakura's ability. He was fairly sure Sakura, of all people, would not be capable of such things.

But, if there was even the slightest chance that he was telling the truth, he'd regret it later when he found out no one was able to heal him.

"If I go back, I'm only staying until I'm well enough to walk on my own."

"Hold on a second!" Suigetsu interjected, "You're a missing nin., Sasuke, do you really think they're going to heal you and then just let you go? Heck, are you sure they're even going to heal you?" "They will." "And what makes you so sure?" He flashed his famous smirk in the blue-haired man's direction. "They're too soft-hearted not to."

Naruto grinned. They had done it. He was finally coming back.

Too bad Sakura wasn't there to see it...

* * *

So, there you have it! Dun dun dun...

What does Sakura have to do with all this? I have a few ideas, I just need to make them seem less... Mary-sue-ish.  
So! You'll just have to wait! Muahahaha!

**Chotto Matte** - Wait, stop! Or something like that:D


	5. Chapter 5

I am so sorry about the long wait!  
Excuses? Um... How about... I went camping? Okay, okay! I give! I am a procrastinator. Can you blame me?  
Don't answer that.

Anyway, I'm sorry! I'll try to get the next chapter out sooner. Much sooner.  
Now, read away!

Disclaimer - I don't own Naruto.

* * *

"You do realize that we're going to have to bind you up some way, right?" And odd look was thrown to the ex-anbu. "People might begin to panic if they saw you walking in the streets." "Do I look like I can do anything like that at the moment?" He snorted. "I suppose not, but your companions here are another story entirely." Suigetsu frowned. "Nobody said anything about us going." he said pointing out to him, Karin and Juugo. 

"Yes, well-" "Of course you're coming! You're all wanted criminals for hanging around with him." The slight frown indicated that Sasuke was irritated at Kiba's comment. "Kiba-kun..." Hinata tried to calm him down. He huffed and stomped off a little ways.

"What about Sakura-chan?" Naruto questioned. The group looked at him. "She was taken away by the akatsuki bastards. We can't just leave her with them-!" "And what do you suggest, Naruto?" Kakashi interjected, "We have no way of knowing where they have taken her, and even if we did we couldn't just walk up to them without a plan in mind. Think a little bit, Naruto." He was silenced. "T-then what should we do?" the dark-haired girl spoke up. "At the very least we should go back to Konoha and stock up on supplies. Tsunade is going to want to hear what happened." Yamato joined in. "Yeah... I'll leave that up to you." Kakashi started again, "There is no way I'm going to be in the same room with her when she finds out Sakura went missing."

Naruto recognized the false cheeriness in his voice, though he masked it well. It was his way of trying to make the situation a little less tense.

"Indeed." Sai had said.

Sasuke looked at the team as they talked. It reminded him of his previous place in Konoha. He knew thinking such thoughts were dangerous, but it was so... intriguing. Just the picture of when the old team seven talked normally. Well, as normal as it could get. Sasuke himself was not very much of a talker, so it made it difficult.

It felt nice when he was there-

No. He blocked the rest of his thoughts before they wandered further down the path he tried so hard to forget. He was no longer a part of team seven. He was no longer a part of Konoha. It was a distant memory. Nothing more.

"Well, Teme? Are you going to talk your little "friends" into coming quietly, or are we going to have to force them?" The blond grinned in the Uchiha's direction. Suigetsu and Juugo looked his way, wondering.

"Do as he says. The quicker this gets done, the sooner we can leave." Naruto wouldn't have believed it if he wasn't there to witness it. Sasuke was coming quietly. How often did that happen?

Suigetsu didn't seem to like the idea, but Sasuke had ordered it, and he would follow. He had saved him, and he still had his debt to pay. And besides, if he stuck with Sasuke, the chance of him getting to Kakashi was high. Perhaps this wouldn't be so bad.

Then the chakra ropes were tied around his arms as Sasuke was taken away from his support. Naruto now kept Sasuke up-right. He, himself, was kept under the watchful eye of the girl. Which would make sense, she had byakugan. She could keep an eye on all of their captives, no matter whom they traveled with. They were strategically placed in the center of the traveling shinobi.

Karin was being carried by the guy with the sun glasses, and Juugo was kept in between Kiba and Yamato. Sai lead the back while Kakashi lead the front.

'So,' Sasuke thought, 'back to Konoha, is it?'

And then the group headed back towards the place he never really expected to see again.

---

Sakura woke up to find herself in the middle of nowhere. She wasn't bound by ropes, her eyes weren't covered, and, at the moment, could not sense anyone near her. Which was odd. What point was there to capture someone if you were just going to dump them somewhere? There was no point to it. None at all.

She decided to stand up and get off the ground from her lying down position and dusted herself off. It was then she realized something was off. All of this just felt... wrong. Almost like-

She closed her eyes and made the hand seal. "Kai!" When she opened her eyes again she was in a darkly lit cave.

"Very good, very good." She heard clapping coming from the darkness. "It took a couple of our members several hours before they figured it out." The kunoichi's eyes narrowed towards the darkness, in the direction she assumed the voice was coming from.

"It seems we have another genjutsu natural in our midsts."

Run. Her mind screamed at her, but her body wouldn't move. Curiosity over powered her fear. For the moment at least.

"Where am I? What do you want with me?" she said as calmly as she could.

"You, Sakura-chan, are in a cave, and I want to use you as leverage. Such stupid questions you ask." She frowned. "Perhaps it's just a little overwhelming for you right now to ask better questions. You have a lot of potential... and use." "Use...?" she questioned. "Yes. But, that's for me to know, and you to find out."

Her world went black again.

It seems to be quite popular these days. Her inner self stated blankly.

---

AN - Just so you are aware... Time has sped up a little bit here. Maybe a couple of days?

The blond Hokage was sitting at her desk looking through the truck load of papers. Nothing out of the ordinary here. Her bottle of sake was to her left -under the desk, so Shizune wouldn't see- and the target, err... picture of Orochimaru on the wall with several embedded kunai on his face.

Ah... Life was good.

Too bad her bliss wouldn't last too long. Her world was about to crash and burn...

"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune had just slammed the door open looking disheveled and out of breath.

Honey-brown eyes looked up to meet darker ones. "What is it now...?" she sighed heavily. If it was Konohamaru again...-

"Kakashi's group has come back!"her apprentice huffed out. It was a good thing she wasn't drinking her sake right now, or it'd be all over poor Shizune.

"Already?" "Yes! They're on their way here now. Sasuke seems to be with them, and some others as well!" Well. This was news wasn't it? Naruto had finally managed to do it. She could just imagine Sakura trying not to explode with all of the pent-up emotions. She'd be able to congratulate her on a job well done seeing as this was her first A/S rank as a chuunin.

Oh, but how devastated she would be...

---

"Tsunade-baachan!" The hyperactive ninja almost smashed through the door carrying a beaten Sasuke with him. The rest followed, but in a more civil manner. "We got Sasuke-bastard and his little wannabe gang! Now I need to go and get Sakura-chan-" Kakashi covered his mouth. No need to get their hokage all riled up before they explained everything, right?

"Naruto, what are you talking about?" His reply to her was more or less, "Scarff-chnwacprdbakakibstds". Safe to say, she had caught none of that. "Before that," The silver-headed shinobi started, "Now that we have Sasuke, what do you think we should do? And he needs to be healed. Sakura seemed to do something to his legs." Tsunade's eyes held a proud gaze as she glared at the Uchiha. "I see. However, he has not earned the right, by any means, to just waltz back into Konoha and ask for help. Why should I help him? He caused an uproar in the village when he left, inflicted pain on my fellow shinobi, and worst of all, on Sakura." Sasuke remained silent. "Plus, he abandoned the village. He's a traitor." "But-" Hinata placed a hand on his shoulder, and shook her head. Anything he said would only make matters worse now.

"Now, what was this about Sakura? Where is she?" Bodies visibly stiffened and... Silence.

"Well?" she pressed on. Then, Naruto blurted out, "She was taken by the akatsuki bastards!!!" Blue swirled red, but quickly went back to his natural blue. "But I guess that was my fault..."

"..."

"Tsunade-sama...?" Shizune asked softly, cautiously.

"Kakashi, Yamato."

"Yeah?" "Yes?" The said in unison.

"Escort our dear Sasuke to one of the hospital rooms in the back of the building. I will heal him there."

She turned to Shino, Kiba and Hinata.

"Team 8."

"Yes?"

"Take the three of them" she said pointing to the remaining 'Hebi' members, "to confinement until further instructions are given."

Naruto and Sai were the only ones left not doing something. "What about me!?"

"You two are going to find Jiraya and bring him back here ASAP."

She looked at all of them one last time.

"Understood?" All heads nodded. "Good. Go."

And they all dissapeared, either by teleporting, or the door.

"Shizune?" "Yes?" "I need you to fill Jiraya in on everything if I'm not back here when he arrives." "O-of course."

The hokage sighed deeply and stood up.

'Sakura...' she thought, 'you better be okay when we find you. You hear me?' And for a second she could have sworn she heard the girl's reply 'Duh', but it wasn't possible. Not logically, anyway.

And off she went to heal her apprentice's crush; the traitor. Who'd ever end up loving someone like that? "You're one messed up kid, Sakura." she said to herself, laughing softly.

---

Somewhere in the dark, an unconscious kunoichi smiled. 'I know.'

* * *

So, how was this one? I think it's a little shorter than some of my other chapters but... I tried! I wanted to end it somewhere good and felt like this was the place. 

I also feel like the story is lacking in awesomeness right now but I hope to fix that in the upcoming chapters.

Well, it's 1 08 am right now... So I'm going to draw and then go to bed. What an exciting life I live!


	6. Chapter 6

Whew, I worked all last night on this! Well... not literally, but you know. The idea was already etched in my tiny brain, I just had to write it out.

But anyway, hope you like it!

Disclaimer - Do you really think I own Naruto? Honestly...

* * *

Tsunade worked as fast as she could on the Uchiha survivor. But she was wary of healing his legs fully right now. She wanted answers first before she sent him off to do whatever it is he wanted to do with his brother. Apparently the little bugger was still alive. Not that she really figured he was dead in the first place, it's just that she was a little put down by the knowledge. She had heard stories from Kakashi about what he was capable of, and now Sakura was in the akatsuki's _care_. And Itachi was in the akatsuki, making her worry even more about her daughter-like apprentice.

"Okay brat, start talking."

Tsunade had stepped aside, away from the bed, as if daring for the Uchiha to move only to find out that he couldn't. He, however, stayed put on the bed. He seemed to be very much aware that she had not fixed him completely.

'_Smart ass._' Tsunade and mentally thought. She supposed he wasn't called a genius for nothing.

"Why were you traveling around in a new group? They must have special skills, or other wise you wouldn't associate with them. Tell me, what are they exactly?" He eyed her, wondering if he should answer any of that question.

"My new "_group_" was assembled to aid me in my search for Uchiha Itachi." he spat the name. The hokage waited for the rest of the answer. She wouldn't get it. "I see," she had replied to his silence. "And do you have any idea where he might be right now?" "No. That's what they were for." he said, referring to the other members of 'hebi'.

"Listen to me boy," she hissed at him, "there is only two things I hate. One, liars, and two, traitors." She was pissed.

Sasuke supposed it was like this for a typical woman. He noticed that Karin, too, had major mood swings. One minute she could be fine, even happy, and the next she could be biting off Suigetsu's head.

"Personally, I think all traitors should get the death penalty. So, why do you think you should get my permission, of all people, to go out and do as you please? Hm?" "Because I'm the only one that can beat him." came Sasuke's reply. She tried to read his face. There was nothing displayed on there. He was like Sai, in many ways, but there was one major difference. Sai _wanted_ emotions. Sasuke _didn't_. This concerned her. Sakura liked him, _loved _him, but she wondered if Sasuke even knew how to love anymore. Perhaps Itachi and Orochimaru had twisted him beyond repair.

Naruto wouldn't like to hear it, neither would Sakura, but they needed to be told. Some things, like this, can't be helped. Some people can't be healed, no matter what you tried to do. They had to understand that. They _had_ to. Their childhood friend probably would never come back. She figured there was only 0.01 percent that he could return to normal, and those were some pretty small odds.

"And what makes you think that? He isn't the strongest shinobi out there-" "He's the only one with tsukiyomi. That makes him just as deadly as any shinobi the _leaf_ could spit out."

Tsunade wondered about that. She had also received information from Kakashi that using tsukiyomi causes the user to lose a little bit of his eye sight each time he used it.

Then something clicked.

Itachi had _Sakura_. The girl with the potential to surpass herself, and them some. She had the best healing abilities...

"Damn it-"

"Tsunade-sama!" Naruto came rushing through the door, followed by Jiraya and eventually Shizune and Sai. She seemed to be out of breath again. "G-gomen- They made a run for it all the way here and I couldn't stop them-" Tsunade put her hand up to silence her.

"Tsunade-baachan! Is Sasuke-teme healed yet?? Sakura needs to be rescued now!" The blond female furrowed her brows. "I know, I know." She turned back to Sasuke. "Brat, if I let you go, after you're done your business, you are to come straight back here, understood? I will have Naruto and Kakashi, plus one of the sannin make sure of that. Is that understood?"

The boy said nothing.

"I will make sure, Baa-chan!" "Good. Now leave before I get pissed off more so than I already am. Jiraya, I need you to wait outside. I need a word, and Naruto, find Kakashi. He should be around with Yamato somewhere in the building."

Everyone left the room.

Tsunade finished repairing the tendons in his legs just in time to hear Kakashi appear outside the door.

"Follow me brat. I suppose you should hear this too."

And outside the door they went.

---

"Hey! Hinata-chan!" The girl stopped in her light training and turned to see Naruto three inches from her face. Safe to say she turned a shade of red that put tomatoes to shame.

"Na-Naruto-k-kun!" She squeaked out."Hey! What's up? Why are you training? Do you have another mission?? Huh?" The Hyuuga swayed a little on her feet, but didn't fall. She made a promise to herself to get better when Naruto was around. "Hey, you okay? You're face is red, do you have another fever!?" His hand went to her head and she froze.

"Hm, you seem okay... Are you feeling alright?"

_Think of something, Hinata! Fast!_ "A-ah, um... N-Naruto-kun... What b-brings you here??" _Sigh... Lame..._

His hand was removed from her head and moved to his chin as he thought. "Hm... I don't know? I was walking, 'cause I had nothing to do, and then I saw Hinata-chan so I came over and said hi, but it seems you don't feel well." His eyes opened wide. "Do you need to go home and sleep!? I can walk you home if you want!" Before he could take her hand she replied, "Ah, no, Naruto-kun, I'm fine." She smiled at him, blush almost gone. He looked at her warily. "Are you sure?" She only nodded. "Well, if you say so."

He sat down and thought for a moment. Something, well, some_things_, played over in his head. '_Hm..._', and, what we would expect from Naruto's simple mind, '_Me plus Hinata equals her getting red._' Hinata noticed he was really thinking hard. His eyes were open and focused in one spot, but not really seeing anything. It must have been a serious issue.

'_I don't get it._' He shook his head. '_I know! I should ask her!_' His eyes came back into focus. "Hey, Hinata-chan?" "Yes?" "Why is it that you always go red when I'm around? Do I make you mad?" Blue eyes were worried. Pale lavender also, but from shock, instead of worry, or maybe that was in there too...

"Is it because you're disgusted? Does the Kyuubi scare you??"

This is awkward...

'_How can he even think that!? And to accuse me of all people... Ironic?_'

"N-no! No no no no! That's not it Naruto-kun...!" Some part of him was relieved that she didn't mind so much that Kyuubi was in him. But the other part was curios. He didn't understand her at all. Maybe it was a girl thing? Like something that men shouldn't know? Like... Forbidden girly-ness? He heard Kiba talk about it once, before he left on his training trip with Jiraya...

_"Naruto, there are somethings you just don't ask women." The blond's head tilted to the side a little bit, in a questioning manner. "Huh? Why? What's so bad about asking girls about perio-?" Kiba smacked his forhead. He knew absolutely nothing, did he?_

_"Naruto, I'll let you in on a little secret," he whispered to his dense friend, "anything concerning crushes, boobs, and the you-know-what, are strictly forbidden topics to talk about with females. It's a big huuuge no-no. We guys don't do that. It's not safe."_

The Kyuubi vessel winced as he remembered the smacking he got from Sakura when he asked about the you-know-what. He never wanted to travel down that road again.

"Ah! Gomen!" he cried bowing down so his head was in the dirt. Hinata had a hard time understanding what he was saying, all the while wondering why he was doing this. "Is this one of the forbidden girl thingies guys aren't supposed to know about? I didn't know! Gomen, gomen!!"

_**By the way, gomen means 'sorry'. I used it because it sounds better as gomen. Meh.**_

Her face lit up again. Thankfully, Naruto's face was down in the dirt so he didn't see.

"Ah... no..."

He sat up all happy again. "Ah, that's good." He grinned at her. "But what is it then?"

Oh dear... how was she supposed to answer? She could say the truth, and risk their friendship, or she could lie -she shuddered- and they could stay friends. But would that make her happy? Just staying friends? Not that she really expected much more than that, but-

"Naruto!!" He winced as he heard Tsunade holler for him. "Ah- Sorry, Hinata-chan! But I gotta run! We should hang out again some time!" He turned away and started to run.

However, before he got to far away she suddenly yelled just loud enough for him to hear, "I go red because I love you!" She then decided to dissapear at that moment in a cloud of smoke, so she didn't get to see Naruto freeze in his tracks.

"L-love me?" When he turned around, she wasn't there...

---

"But she wont be able to heal it if it's a kekkei genkai effect, right?" Kakashi questioned. Sasuke was keeping to himself, taking in all of this new information. He had no idea that the user of tsukiyomi would eventually go blind.

"We have no idea. No one of Sakura's skill has ever tried." Jiraya spoke up. "It's very likely though, that she would be able to." All heads turned to her, even Sasuke's. "That's not possible-" Tsunade interupted Kakashi, "Remember how you and Sasuke were affected before by the effects? I could bring you out of that condition. The same basic principle applies. It's not the sharingan itself that trapped you in that.. place, nor did it have anything to do with you being in a coma. It was the _ability_ that caused this. It's the same in Sakura's case. She doesn't need to heal the sharingan, it's the ability of sight. The cornea and such. There's no way she could tap into the sharingan itself, just the nerves she needs to heal his vision." she explained. "She would never do it." Sasuke's cool voice came into the conversation. "Perhaps you are right, but if they torture her and break her will-" "Jiraya, I would appreciate it of you wouldn't put down my student that way." "Tsunade, she's a strong girl, no doubt, but-" "No. It's the same as saying Naruto would break after that. No one would ever see that happen. His will and optimism is impossible to shatter. It's one of his many unique traits, and I have known Sakura long enough to know that this is one of her traits as well. Do you understand me?" she almost hissed at the other sannin. He sighed and gave up. "Of course." He smiled a little. She loved her student and wouldn't give up on her, as he wouldn't give up on Naruto. But he knew that they shouldn't get ahead of themselves. Anyone could give up if the right buttons were pushed...

"Baa-chan! I'm here!"

"Ah, just on time Naruto." she replied. "Jiraya, what would be the best course of action right now?"

The sannin thought for a second. They had no idea of where to start. Akatsuki remained as elusive as ever, and with Sakura being captured and all made it even more difficult. They could plan to use her against them, and Naruto, he knew, would do anything to see her safely home.

Also, Sasuke and his team would be traveling with them, so he needed to take them into account.

"I think that there should be two teams. The first with myself, Naruto, Sasuke, the red-head chick, and the huge guy. I'd be captain, of course." Naruto scowled. He has never been captain!

"The second with Kakashi, Yamato, Sai and the sharky." (Sharky equals Suigetsu.) Kakashi would be the captain there. This way we both have the advantage of sharingan. And if we happen to run into any akatsuki after Naruto, Sasuke will most likely be able to fight Itachi, since he and Kisame seem to be the pair chosen to go after him."

"Smart." Tsunade commented, though Naruto wasn't too sure if she really meant it. She seemed to be thinking also.

"We'll leave tomorrow morning-" "Tomorrow isn't good enough! Sakura-chan needs to be rescued now!" "Naruto, some of the group need a little more rest then you do, and the extra time will let Kakashi and myself figure out where we should start." Naruto bit back his toung.

"It's decided then, tomorrow." Tsunade said. The rest of the group nodded. "Go and sleep, you're going to need it." They all left, Naruto grudgingly, and Sasuke was escorted into the 'confinement' room with the rest of Hebi.

The only ones that remained were Tsunade and Jiraya.

"Jiraya... I want my girl back safe." "You sound like you're her mother..." "Hn, I'm the closest to one she's ever had. I think the feeling is mutual." She walked away, leaving Jiraya to ponder. What exactly did she mean? Did the girl not have any parents either?

Jeeze... This was one sad, sad group. But perhaps this will even make them more known throughout the continent, to all the shinobi, they all seemed to have a rough past.

He shrugged it off to go find Kakashi to discuss their plans for tomorrow.

* * *

Ah... I promised it would be out sooner than last time! So, This is kind of a 'filler' chapter, but I hope I kept it interesting with the NaruHina ness.

And Sakura... I wonder if I should make a chapter dedicated to her and her past hardships? Perhaps. I don't know as of yet. Nyaa XD

Anyway, I hope you liked it. I'm going out today so I'm not sure if I'll get any of the next chapter done... so it could be a day later than expected... If there is an expected date at all?

**Kekkei Genkai - Blood line ability/limit. Sharingan and byakugan, for example.  
**


	7. Chapter 7

Bleh. It's been a while, but you know... Life gets in the way. Coughschoolcough  
Anyway... Sorry about the wait. I'm not going to say it was worth it, because I dislike this chapter, but the next one should be good!  
Well, you can read it now if you wish.

Disclaimer - I do not own anything concerning Naruto. Except for a few posters and headbands and t-shirts...

* * *

Two days. It's only been two days and already she felt like she would rather die than be here. Well, she always figured that she would, but to this extent... It was driving her mad.

She was placed in a room upon arrival and hasn't been outside of it since.

She always felt tense. She knew the members of akatsuki were watching her and it made her uneasy. She felt two different chakra switch with another two every 12 hours. Well, that was how she figured it would continue to go until today. The end of today would be her third day in here and apparently the akatsuki decided to disrupt the pattern. Itachi had decided to pay her a visit.

"...!" Surprise was etched across her features, but she refused to show any signs of fear. She knew that would be the start of her downfall and she wanted to prolong that as much as was possible.

"Haruno Sakura." His deep monotone voice filled the small room. "Not a very common name, is it?" She scoffed at him, eyes never going above his jawline. "Sakura is a very common name. Infact-" "I meant _Haruno._" "..." She bit her bottom lip.

"Oi! Itachi!" Sakura assumed the man who just walked in was Kisame. Kakashi and Gai sensei had mentioned something about him being blue and he carried a large sword. He fit the description.

"Oh! What's this? A_girl_?" A wicked smile was flashed her way, sharp teeth making all the more menacing. "Sakura," he told Kisame, "Kisame." He then told to Sakura, who just had her suspicions confirmed.

"She's the medical bitch, I've heard about? _She's_ going to fix you?" The man said nothing while looking at the younger ninja ans she held a look of defiance. She refused to do anything to help, and he expected as much.

"No offence, but doesn't she look a little _young_? How good can she possibly be at her age?" "Apparently, she has the potential, even now, to surpass Tsunade's medical skills, and she could rival you in taijutsu." "Ha! I just might have to find out for myself then!" He flashed another menacing smile that, in any other situation, would have made the girl turn 5 shades of red and possibly earn the man -thing- a slap.

"Well, I hope you two have _fun_. Ha ha!"

Sakura could continue to hear laughter erupting from the shark-man's throat until he closed the door, leaving her alone with Itachi once again.

"I refuse," she finally said after a long moment of silence. "And I would reconsider that," he told her. "Well, I'm not you. I refuse." Her voice was harder this time, making sure to get her point across. "Then we'll have to do this the hard way. What would you prefer first, tsukiyomi, or physical torture?" Her eyes shot open, though she was careful enough to stay away from his eyes, which, she noted, already had red swirling through them.

She didn't respond, but her eyes remained on the floor.

"Then, I'll choose for you." She expected to be hit at first, so she winced, but nothing came. She didn't look up, though, to see what he was planning.

"Sakura." This got her attention. Her head snapped up at the sound of _Sasuke's_ voice, but got a face-full of Itachi instead. She saw deadly red eyes and sharp, black shapes spinning before her world turned dark-red...

---

"Alright," Jiraya spoke first after the whole group met at the entrance of the village. "My group will go first and to the east. Kakashi's group will leave five minutes after us and to the west. Both teams will do a semi-circle type route and meet up back where this whole mess started; The explosion site." He looked around the group of shinobi there, waiting to leave. "Any questions?" Nothing was asked. "Alright then, let's go." The sannin's group didn't need to be told twice.

"Good luck." he said to Kakashi and his 'travelling buddies', before he left to go after the group before they got too far ahead and got themselves lost. "Aa. Same to you." He was sure that the older man had heard, even though he took off.

Kakashi was aware of the menace coming from one of his members in the team. It was the hebi member. His eyes glared at him like there was no tomorrow. He wondered why..?

He shrugged it off, though he wasn't completely unaware of the eyes that so badly wanted to burn a hole in the back of the jounin's torso. He sighed. This was going to be a long trip. He wondered if he should take out his book, but decided not to. One of his students' lives was at steak so he figured they wouldn't be stopping much, or at all, today. There was no time to read. The faster he got to Sakura, and the akatsuki, the better.

Sooner than he expected, the five minutes were up. "Alright, you all know what to do. So, let's go." And then there were blurs of colours as they darted off.

---

"Hey, Ero-sennin!" Jiraya looked back to the blond that had called him. "What is it now...?"

Poor Jiraya had asked, knowing what the questions was and what his answer would be. Naruto had been asking for the past 10 minutes 'Are we there yet? How much longer will it take? Can we go faster?' . He wasn't sure how much more of it he could take. Even a legendary sannin had his limits. However, he was surprised to hear something different coming out of the blond's mouth.

"Do you think... Sakura-chan is okay?" He was also surprised to find that Naruto had even asked that question, all the while looking like someone had just killed his best friend.

"I'll be honest with you, kid," he made his tone serious, so that even Sasuke had to look (much to Karin's displeasure. She had been trying to get him to look at _her_ since they had started, and all it takes is this '_Sakura_' and his attention is diverted), "I really don't know. But this is the akatsuki we're talking about, so I wouldn't be surprised to find out that she might not be in great health when we find her." 'If_ we find her, alive anyway._'

The Kyuubi vessel kept his head down. He knew the sannin was right, he just didn't really want to hear it.

"_Great_ health? I'd be surprised to find her _breathing_." Karin huffed out. She missed the glare sent her way by Sasuke and Jiraya. That, or she just didn't care. However, Naruto made sure she'd regret saying that.

Blue eyes clashed with the female's and he grabbed the collar of her shirt, forcing the entire group to stop. "Listen, I don't care if you are a girl, if Sakura-chan doesn't beat the crap out of you when we get there, I will. Got it?"

She smacked his hand away. "Hey, you asked the question, so you should have been prepared to hear the worst!" He shut his mouth. She was right, in a way.

"You just don't like her, so your opinion doesn't count." he snarled at her and started running again.

She wanted to yell at him again, telling him all of the brutal things they could be doing to her at this very moment, Sasuke, however, gave her the 'shut up if you want to live' look and took off after the rest of them. She followed, only because heaven forbid that she be separated from her dear Sasuke. But her evil little mind got working up all of the way she could rile the whisker-faced shinobi up. She was suddenly in a better mood.

After a little while of silence Tsunade's voice repeated part of an earlier conversation,

_"You sound like you're her mother." "Hn, I'm the closest to one she's ever had. I'm sure the feeling's mutual."_

What in the world did that mean? Before they left they spoke with two adults who seemed concerned that Sakura did not come home with her team. Tsunade spoke with them, trying to, calmly, tell them what had happened. She left out some of the fine details, but got the message across.

So, if she had parents, then why would-?

"Ugh, can we stop for a bit? We've been running all day!" Karin had finally spoke up. Jiraya sighed. If she was going to complain after only half a day's worth of travel, he would knock her out and carry her himself. He regretted putting Karin on his team.

"Sakura-chan doesn't complain even when she hasn't slept the night before." Karin glared at the blond boy. "Like I could give a flying crap about what '_Sakura-chan_ does! You speak so freakin' highly of her! I bet she's not even capable of taking down a 5 year-old!" "Obviously not! She's got a _heart_, unlike you bunch of-" "Naruto, enough. We'll stop for 10 minutes." Naruto was about to protest but the three hebi members had already stopped. "Figures..." He mumbled.

* * *

Well? How was it? It's okay, pleeeaassseee be honest! Just don't go overboard saying it was a piece of- You get the idea, yes?  
Next chapter there will be a lot more Sakura-tsukiyomi ness. So be happy! 


	8. Chapter 8

Well, well ,well. Shorter than the last update, no? I hope you like it better than the last one. I do. It's longer too! Aren't you happy?

Anyway, I'll let you get to reading. Have fun!

Disclaimer - Holy crap, I don't own it already! 'Kay? I mean,if I owned it, THIS is what would be happening right now! Maybe...

* * *

Sakura found herself in a field of beautiful wild flowers. She felt so happy that she couldn't help but dance and twirl around among the flowers. Her father had brought her here to get away from the yelling of her mother giving orders to the servants in the house. This garden of flowers was her safe-haven. A place only her family knew about. Apparently, it was a custom on her father's side of the family to tell your spouse about this place. It was a sign of complete trust because this place was the ultimate defence. Nobody could get here unless they've been shown from someone who's already been there. If someone with ill intentions came to this place, Sakura feared all of the pretty flowers would wither and die, for this was a place of the heart.

A cruel and chilling wind swept across the garden and Sakura stopped in mid-twirl.

It seemed that out of nowhere her mother came running to her. Five year-old Sakura was nervous. Her mother looked looked really angry about something and she was known to have a very bad temper. "Sakura, let's go right now." She grabbed her daughter's wrist roughly, pulling her along. "Nira!" Her father appeared but her mother didn't stop. Then, her voice sounded, "That's Nira-_**sama**_ to you, monster!"

Little Sakura managed to crane her neck just enough to see her father stop running after them and his heart shatter. "Don't look at him, Sakura!" But she couldn't help it. She had never seen him look so sad and broken. She was used to the strong, always smiling man she called father.

Suddenly, she found herself back in the halls of her home. Her mother was still running, pulling Sakura and her sore wrist. "Mother, plese stop. You're hurting me..." She was ignored.

Finally, her mother stopped running. Sakura realized it a little too late and stumbled but managed to catch herself from falling completely. She then felt her mother let go of her tiny, bruised arm. She looked up to see a sight one as small as her shouldn't have ever seen. Her father pointing his **katana** at her mother's throat. She may have been young, but she knew the sight was wrong. It scared her so much that she started to cry. "Daddy...?" she looked for something in his eyes to tell her that this was just some bad dream. "Stand behind me, Sakura," her father commanded and she obeyed without question. When her father used anything but Saku-chan, he was dead serious.

"You wont get away with this," her mother hissed out, "This nation wont stop searching for her. And they wont rest until you're dead." Sakura cried some more. Her parents, as far as she knew, were never really "close", but this was... there wasn't even a word in her vocabulary for it. "You wont find her. I'll make sure of that." He sheathed his blade, turned around quickly, picked his crying daughter up, and ran out of the building.

Then, a sudden wave of déja-vu wracked her body; Like she's been through this before.

She heard her mother order soldiers to go after them and even more tears fell from her innocent eyes and down her flushed cheeks. "Hush," her father cooed, "Every thing's alright."

---

Her father had been running non-stop for days on end now. He had managed to put Sakura into a sleep-like state so that her small body used up less energy. When she finally came to, she noticed her father had stopped running. Were they okay now? Then she heard yells and curses. She heard metal clashing and flesh on flesh. She also noticed that she was being moved into somebody else's arms, gently, so as not to wake her. There seemed to be some kind of battle going on and her mind barely registered that her father just joined in the fray. "Da-" "Don't worry. You're safe." This new voice sounded old, but strong. The voice of a leader with many years of wisdom.

It was over in a flash. So quickly that Sakura thought she had imagined it. Her mind raced to catch up to the present situation, but once it got there she regretted ever waking up. Her mind told her 'it's over, it's over.'

a lance had been thrown in his direction as he was blocking another incoming attack. The lance was embedded through his mid-section. And she saw blood. Lots of it. And then he fell to the ground. Still as death.

Several more weapons found their way into his body. Shining emerald eyes widened with fear and shock and anger. The other fighters, the ones on their side, fought off the bad guys who did this. But that wouldn't help her father now.

"No... No!!" She struggled to get out of the elder man's arms. He let go and she made her way towards the too still body. "Daddy... Daddy! Wake up! Wake up, wake up, wake up!" The elder man sat beside her and put an old hand on her shoulder. "He's gone now, child." "No! Stop lying to me!" Sakura shook off his hand. "Daddy! Wake up! Please wake up! Don't leave me alone! I'm scared... Please wake up!"

The old man beside her said something to the others that were there and she noticed her father's body being moved away from her. She wanted so badly to latch onto her father and never let go. However, no matter how hard she tried, her body did not move to her will. So, she did the only thing she _could_ do at the moment; Vent.

---

"Ah!!!!!!!!"

Jiraya's team snapped their heads up towards the screeching sound. "Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled first. He was about to take of when, "Naruto! Hold on! This could be a trap to lure you in by the Akatsuki. We're not even near the blast site yet." The blonde shinobi stopped for a minute, head down in thought. Even Sasuke didn't know what his former teammate was thinking. He knew what he was going to do, though. If it was a trap set up by the Akatsuki, then his brother would most likely be there.

"It's worth the risk. If Sakura isn't there, then it wont matter. We'll leave and go somewhere else. But, if she is there, and we just go right by them, I'd never forgive myself." Jiraya, though a little reluctant, agreed. "There's no stopping you, is there then?" Naruto grinned and took off. The others close behind.

---

"Give in yet?" Sakura didn't answer. "It ends when you say the words." Still only silence came from the girl. This was because she was still partially shocked that she was stark naked in this world of his, which disturbed her greatly. "You know, it's pitiful that when a young woman, like you, has a fear this great about her body." She shivered inwardly and wrapped her arms around herself, covering parts of her the best she could. She began to shake heavily when he scrutinized her without mercy. "Maybe my little brother was right about you. You are pathetic," he spat out at her. At this point she snapped her eyes shut and she covered her ears, trying to shut him out. It made no difference. "_**This is **__**my**__** world, Sakura-chan. You can't get rid of me, no matter how hard you try.**_" Panic gripped her heart, so much so that it hurt. A lot. It got harder to breathe as she realized that she really was trapped in here with no way of getting out. No matter how good she was at genjutsu she would never be able to break free from here. From him. "Crying is a weakness, Sakura." Oh... She didn't even notice the tears.

Even though her eyes were shut she could still see the red and black of his world start to spin. The two colours blurred and mixed together making Sakura feel sick, but no matter how much she wanted to be sick, she couldn't. Then images passed through her head.

First, it was Sasuke she saw.

"Perhaps you should focus less on flirting and more on training."

"Leave me alone, you're annoying."

_Sasuke-kun..._

Then Naruto.

"Don't worry! I'll protect you, Sakura-chan!"

_Naruto... No... I can protect myself..._

"Sakura-chan, I'll bring Sasuke back. I promise!"

_Ahhh! No! Stop it!_

Then random images and insults she received as a child. Some more recent.

"Look at that forehead! It's huge! Not to mention u-g-l-y!"

"Haha, look! She has no chest at all!"

"Flat!"

"What the-? _Pink_ hair? It's hideous!"

_No.. Make it stop!_

"This is where we part ways..."

_Oh no... Not again! Stop it!! Stop!!! Sasuke-kun, don't... Please don't!_

"Arigatou..."

The images stopped and she fell to the ground, huffing and crying.

"St...op... P-please..." She hiccuped a couple of times before he spoke. "All you have to do is agree." "No... I can't... I-I'd betray-?" "Who," She never saw Itachi as one to get angry, but that's what he sounded like at the moment. "Who would you betray? _Sasuke_? Please try to come up with something better. He _hates_ you anyway. He left Konoha because you couldn't stop him, because you weren't good enough. He doesn't care. And Naruto? He left you all alone for two years. Don't you think he knew enough to know what you were going through after Sasuke? That he would understand enough not to leave you alone? Is that what you call a friend?" "B-but he left to g-get strong-" "They didn't need to leave their home to get stronger. You've gotten stronger there, haven't you? Or, maybe you haven't. But, they weren't the only ones that left you. Even Kakashi left. He was never at the village for more that a couple days at a time. You were _alone_ and _nobody cared_." She had no reply. It was so easy to believe him. She supposed that part of her knew there was some truth in what he said. It hurt her to even think that, but what he said wasn't exactly a lie...

"So, will you fix my eyes?" She seemed to think over it, and he waited patiently for a reply.

"No." She heard him sigh. "Why?" Her voice sounded more monotonous than before, and Itachi knew it was only a matter of time now. "Countless more people will die... Innocent people..." "They don't even know who you are. They wouldn't care anyway. They don't care. _Nobody cares_." "I still do." There was tone in her voice, but it still held strong.

"Looks like you still need a little more persuasion." She tried to brace herself before the next onslaught began.

---

Naruto and Sasuke led their team through the forest, but there seemed to be a slight panic that hung through the air. Naruto didn't hear anymore screaming. He wasn't sure if it was a bad thing, or a good thing. It could mean that her torture had stopped... but was it because she was dead?

If it was the latter, he didn't know what he should do. It was frustrating! He had no clue where she might me without any sound. "Naruto, you need to keep a cool head." "How can I keep a cool head!?" he stopped suddenly, "How can I keep calm in a situation like this? Sakura could have di-" He didn't finish it. "That's only the worst outcome. She could still be alive, and this could still be a trap. Who knows? We could be being watched right now."

For some reason, that provided no relief for the teenager. "I don't think she's dead." All eyes landed on Sasuke and he was uncomfortable with the sudden attention but he ignored it pretty well. "Tsukiyomi doesn't kill." Hope shimmered in his friend's blue eyes. "Physically, anyway." Confusion. "Ugh! You're so dense! I can't believe you were a former member on Sasuke-kun's team!" A glare was sent her way in more than one direction. "Her body may appear to be fine and unscathed, but her mind could be screwed beyond all repair."

"Kinda like what happened to Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei before?" He went stiff at the memory. He had to travel with Jiraya to find Tsunade to fix the team seven members. "Shit." He doubled his pace and sent out shadow clones in his frantic search to find he female teammate.

"Kakashi, we might need some back up. Sakura could be in a bad situation and who knows what Naruto'll do. Stay put for now and be ready to back us up."

"Yeah, I copy," he replied.

On the other end, Kakashi was more than a little worried. They seemed to be on the trail to Sakura's where abouts and she seemed to be in trouble. He'd never forgive himself if something bad happened to one of his students... And his only female one at that.

---

Sakura had decided that this was, officially, hell. Even though Itachi had used tsukiyomi he still had more than enough strength to beat Sakura around like a doll. Even if she was able to fight back, she'd still be no match for the sharingan user. Right now, she was backed into the corner of the room she was in before her tsukiyomi experience. Her legs were so badly bruised she could move them, and that meant it was alot harder for her to get away, or at least avoid some of his brutal attacks.

"It stops when you want it to. Just say the words." She moved her face away from his direction. This move earned her a back-handed slap across her cheek. She ended biting her tung. She swished the blood in her mouth a couple times before spitting it at him. Some of it managed to get on his cloak. She was flung into the middle of the room, landing on her back. She tried to sit up but cried out in pain at the top of her lungs when her captor's foot crashed down on her arm, successfully breaking it. "How many more bones must I break before you comply?" Her reply was another cry of pain. His other foot found it's way onto her chest and they both heard soft, but sound, crack. More screaming erupted from her dry, scratched throat. She was sure that people all the people in Suna heard her cries from the leaking air of her now punctured lungs.

She barely registered Itachi getting off of her, the pain was so intense. Her vision began to fade. Her life was slowly draining away. She was going to die here and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. She wanted to cry but there was nothing left in her to do anything, much less cry.

"As a parting gift, Sakura, part of your mind will still be trapped in tsukiyomi. I'll be able to hear your every thought, see your location, and if I'm feeling up to it, control your body." She thought, because she didn't have the strength to speak, _It wont matter. I'm already dead._

"Not necessarily. Your comrades are almost here." Normally, Sakura would have been ecstatic, but she was in too much pain to really care. "Until we meet again, Sakura-chan..." Her last thought was _I'm useless and pathetic... I can never do anything... right._

---

At long last the team of five came to a clearing with a stone cabin of some sort. They all felt a certain chakra, but it wasn't who they were expecting. They saw who it was when it stepped out of the house. "Kisame." Sasuke noted. Naruto looked closer at the man. He appeared to be holding something. "Oh no..." Juugo was the one to speak this time. "Sakura-san... Has pink hair, right?" Jiraya nodded.

After what seemed like an eternity, the blue man dropped what he was holding.

In one hundredth of a second Naruto's eyes turned crimson and his chakra burned in anger as he sped towards Kisame. Within that small time-frame Naruto had put his hand right through his chest. It took another moment, but he dissapeared in a cloud of smoke. A bunshin.

Naruto turned quickly after the smoke cleared and knelt down to his friend. She wasn't breathing.

Sasuke couldn't take his eyes off of the limp body that Naruto fell to his knees by. It was Sakura all right. But he only just barely recognized her. Her normally pink hair was red with blood. Her face, normally peaceful, was twisted with pain and dark from the welts she received. Her right arm was twisted at a wrong angle, broken (or shattered) and her legs, or what he could make of them, were cut and also dark from her beatings. He returned to normal when he heard Naruto scream her name.

"Sakura-chan! Wake up!" His eyes were still red, he noticed, but he was crying. Jiraya walked over as he did. Karin and Juugo kept their distance. Karin, because she really didn't care for the girl and was slightly disturbed when Sasuke made his way over to her, and Juugo because he didn't want to interfere with them. For all he knew, she was dead and didn't want to interrupt the sad moment.

"She's not breathing! She's not breathing, Jiraya!" An older hand made it's way to her neck and felt for a pulse. He got one, but it was faint, and growing even more so as they sat there.

Sasuke could do nothing but look at her, bloody and broken. What was he supposed to do? He was supposed to break all bonds with every one of them, but there was something there that even he couldn't deny. It was something he felt when his family died, though he couldn't recall exactly what.

Naruto picked Sakura up and hugged her while he cried. She coughed up blood. Wait- She coughed! "Naruto, don't move!" He did what the Sannin told him, he didn't move. It seemed that in this position she was able to breath, albeit rough and heavy.

Unknown to Sasuke, he took a small breath of relief.

"Kakashi." Jiraya waited for the jounin's voice.

"Here."

"Send one of your dogs to Tsunade immediately. We need her out here fast."

"I take it you found her."

"Yes, but she's in bad shape and probably won't last the rest of the day."

The line went dead. Kakashi had done what he was instructed to do. Now it was only a matter of time. _Hang in there kiddo._

---

Tsunade was in the middle of "signing some papers" when Pakkun appeared in a cloud of smoke right in the middle of her desk. There was a sound of a bottle dropping to the floor and then the sound of liquid pouring out. "Damn it! This had better be good..." "Sakura's dying." The bottle shattered. Pakkun assumed it was a delayed reaction. The small dog was about to tell her where they were located but the Hokage was already out the door. His duty was done and he returned to Kakashi.

"Ah, I see. She'll be here soon by the looks of it." "Let's just hope Sakura holds out until then." "Aa."

---

"How long now, do you think?" Juugo looked at Karin. "I don't know. Not long, I imagine." Karin decided to sit against the base of a tree. If the girl held out out the hour she'd be surprised.

"Her breathing's slowed down." Jiraya stated. Naruto's gaze didn't move from the spot on the ground he's been staring at for the past five minutes. His stare only hardened when the words left his sensei's mouth. Sasuke sat down on the other side of her and only looked. at her. Naruto would have smiled at this slight show of understanding had it not been a serious situation concerning Sakura's survival. Right now they were both feeling the same thing; They were on the brink of losing a friend. Even if Sasuke tried to deny it before.

* * *

Ah... I kind of liked this chapter! Even though it's kind of... how should I put it? Sad? Meh. Tell me what you think, okay? 


	9. Chapter 9

Possible Chapter 9

Took long enough, no?  
I do not own Naruto in any way, shape or form. Hell... I'd be super rich if I did!

The wait was very long and tense. Naruto was now cramping up, badly, but nobody dared to move the dying girl. Her condition was so bad at this point that the slightest movement made by the jiinchiruki could be fatal to the girl he was holding.

What was taking Tsunade so long? It was sunset now and it would soon be dark. Jiraya had to wonder how she had managed to live this long. She should have died within the first hour of being rescued.

By now most of the group was either sitting or sleeping. Sasuke had sat down with the two members of Hebi that came along with his group. Jiraya had stayed with Naruto but had also taken a seat to give his tired legs a break.

Before long Karin made her annoyance known, waking Juugo in the process. "Look, this is absolutely ridiculous!" Jiraya and Sasuke eyed her warily. "Whoever it is that's supposed to be coming wont make it in time. We've been here for hours and she hasn't showed." "Karin-" Juugo began but was cut off, "No. Let me be the voice of reason here. The girl's probably in immense pain! Just put her out of her misery already!"

What Karin had said struck a chord with Naruto. Her point made him feel powerless and weak. And she was probably right. She was probably going through hell right now and all he could do was watch as his friend's life was slipping away. But he couldn't just kill her. What if she didn't feel any pain (though that was unlikely, and if she ever woke up it was sure to be very painful)? What if she didn't want to die? It would be unfair to her. He certainly didn't want it to end up that way for him. But then again, he _wasn't_ Sakura. He didn't know _what she_ wanted.

Naruto mentally shook his head. He was thinking too much. So, in short, since he knew absolutely nothing so he wasn't going to do anything. Simple.

Sasuke shifted a little bit. Juugo looked away from the entire scene.

Jiraya contemplated. The girl was right. Sakura was in pain (or seemed to be), her life only dwindled at this point and who knows when and if Tsunade would show up. He ran this point by Naruto.

"No."

The Sannin sighed. "Naruto-" "No," he replied stubbornly, "Let's say we did kill her. Let's just say. Then what if Tsunade showed up ten minutes later? How bad would you feel? And even if you really didn't care wouldn't you have sense enough to know how **I** wold feel? Fuck the "no emotion" rule! I would feel like shit! No. There's no word for it. Just... nothing." And his short rant ended. Jiraya could see there was no changing his mind and didn't pursue the matter further.

Twenty minutes later Karin snapped her head up. It was dark now. "Someone's headed this way. There's two of them... about five minutes away from here." Naruto's eyes lit up, Sasuke sighed, Jiraya was cautious. However, as the two chakra came closer he identified Tsunade's chakra as well as an Anbu **guard**, so he relaxed a little bit.

Tsunade entered the clearing where Jiraya's group resided. Her guard followed after her. "Where is she?" She demanded. "Tsunade!" Naruto called for her and she found her student in his arms. She was horrified but didn't show it. Instead she made her way over to Sakura and checked her over for a general idea of her injuries. It didn't look good, though she guessed that before her evaluation. "Naruto, don't move and hold her still no matter what." He nodded slowly and the Hokage began her work to fix the other medic nin as best she could. '_Hold on, Sakura._'

* * *

_Somewhere still unknown at this point..._

"Do you really think it was wise to let her go? Just like that? She's probably dead. That was the only bait we had for Naruto." "No. She's not dead." "How do you know?" A figure smirked while sitting in a blood red lounge chair. The light given off of the fire place gave the figure and eerie glow and the glint in his eyes was made much more sinister. He didn't answer. The other in the room grunted. "Have it your way then." And said figure left the room.

"Don't dissapoint me, Sakura-chan."

* * *

_Flower petals were everywhere, suspended in the air. A small hand reached out to touch one. It closed around the frail petal and brought it close to a little girl's chest. The little girl prayed that everything would be okay, thought she wasn't quite sure just _what_ everything was. She opened her hand after her words were said but the petal had wilted and became ugly. The brown colour she never liked to see on pretty flowers. It meant they were dead; No longer full of life, and it made her sad._

_'Father, where are you?' There was no reply. There was never one. Only flower petals remained in this place now. The place that her ancestors created. All of her flowers had frozen over and died. Only the Sakura petals remained. Only faded shades of pink._

_A vengeful atmosphere is what was here to accompany her. What was once her safe-haven was now a prison. Someone had trapped her here and she couldn't leave. Or... Maybe she really didn't want to. This place scared her a little but outside must have been much worse. It had to be. She just knew. She didn't know how but she did and she was determined never to go back to a place that hurt her. Never._

_'Father, I'm lonely... Where are you?' Only a cold wind answered the little girl. She brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them for warmth and comfort. _

_'Sakura-chan? Is that really you?' The small girl turned her head and saw a woman standing not too far from where she was.  
'Mother?'_

_The woman smiled but in no way was Sakura comforted by it. Instead she wanted to leave. 'Saku-chan? Are you alright?'  
Sakura shivered as her childhood self turned into her more mature self. Her mother shouldn't be here. This was bad. She should have been locked out of here when her father died..._

_'Saku-chan?' The woman was smiling still but it wasn't serene or happy. Sakura didn't know what it was exactly, just that it was wrong._

_'No. How are you still-' 'Saku-chan, is that any way to adress your mother for the first time in nine years?' Sakura became angry. 'No! Leave me alone! Get out of here!' _

"Sakura!" Emerald eyes snapped open. The girl was taking in short gasps as a cold sweat covered her entire being. She shivered and couldn't stop.

She noticed that there was a fire nearby but it didn't help to warm her. And then she noticed chakra. A lot of chakra. Many of whom she knew the signiture of and some others she felt like she knew but were too foreign to recognize. But a simple fact remained in her head : There were too many people.

She pulled herself into the fetal position and her breathing worsened. She was finding it harder and harder to breathe. She felt too exposed infront of them all.

"Sakura-chan! What's wrong!?" She heard Naruto call out. She didn't feel his chakra before which must mean that he just came back from something. But she was panicking too much to think properly.

A ripping sound came from her throat as she cryed and breathed heavily at the same time. "Naruto, hold her down for a second, she's having a panic attack." She vaguely recognized the voice as Tsunade's.

Naruto tried to hold her down, but she had a kind of strength he didn't. When she felt pressure on her body she freaked out more. She almost thre Naruto off of her when Sasuke helped out. Not that she knew it was him at the time.

Tsunade spoke again, "Sakura, try to calm down."

Sakura felt a warm sensation on her head as Tsunade calmed her down with her own chakra. It turned out to be effective as she stopped thrashing and calmed down. Her breathing remained heavy, but her thoughts were coherrent enough now.

"Sorry..." she suddenly had the urge to apologize. "It's okay Sakura-chan." She could feel Naruto smile with relief when he spoke. "Are you alright now, though? You almost gave me a heart attack..." "I think so..." Sakura sat up suddenly and turned to face the Hokage behind her, not noticing Sasuke right beside Naruto. "Shishou... She saw me." Her mentors honey-brown eyes shone with confusion. "She saw me. In my garden... She knows where I am. Oh no... She's going to find me and then there'll be a war and I'll be forced to-" "Sakura!" She flinched and stopped talking. "Sakura, there's no way she could find you. Calm down." The girl still shivered in fear. She wasn't convinced.

Sakura curled up and lied down again. Maybe if she fell asleep she would wake up and everything would be okay... Back to normal. Nothing to worry about...

H-o-l-y... This was painful... So, sorry if your eyes are bleeding. I tried. Maybe, when the story's done I'll re-write it and it'll be decent enough. Le sigh... All my hopes and dreams...

So, even if they're bad... review, please?


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